Ronny Chieng may be a correspondent on "The Daily Show With Trevor Noah," but he is far from a household name, which explains why the room was only three-fourths full for his late-night set Saturday at Acme Comedy Co. Even an audience member from Australia, where Chieng got his professional start, had never previously heard of him.
Of course, Steven Colbert, Samantha Bee and John Oliver weren't swimming in the mainstream either until firmly establishing themselves as reliable members of the "Daily" press corps.
Chieng could very well follow in their footsteps. More dashing and dirty than the Comedy Central series suggests, the Malaysian-born comic ran the gamut from Asian stereotypes to the commercialism of Valentine's Day, displaying so much ease during his maiden run at a Twin Cities venue that he spent much of his time on stage nestling his left elbow into the crook of the microphone stand.
He also tackled politics, but not as much as one might have expected from a "Daily Show" correspondent. HIs best bit on the subject compared Donald Trump to Eminem, pointing out how both embrace their shortcomings on stage before their opponents can pounce.
Chieng's eagerness to prove he's a one-stop comic makes it hard to define his stage persona, but he does have a killer signature move in which he closes his eyes, bends slightly forward and channels a teenage whiner with more than rainy weather in California on the agenda. Think Debbie Downer meets Lewis Black.
He also stood out for the way he deftly handled an unusually vocal, but out of tune, crowd. They engaged with Chieng and his warm-up acts, but seemed to be operating on a completely different wavelength, a disconnect Chieng pounced upon, playfully chastising the audience for not keeping up with him.
After snapping at a spectator who seemed to be only half engaged in his attempt at a conversation, he apologized. I didn't buy it for a second -- and I didn't care.
Perhaps the Twin Cities crowd was expecting a more docile act, which, to be fair, is what they've seen on "Daily." Chieng, who just moved to this country last fall, is primarily used by the series as the shell-shocked immigrant, a tact also adapted by the show's current host, Trevor Noah. The fact that the series is still trying to establish Noah as a worthy successor to Jon Stewart may explain why Chieng didn't get more screen time during convention coverage.
There's every reason to believe he'll get more attention, both on TV and in the Twin Cities, soon.